Sian Berry’s work on the Assembly year by year: 2017

On the London Assembly since 2016, Sian has worked in City Hall with Caroline Russell to challenge the Mayor to bring in policies from the Green manifesto and to take action on the issues that matter to grassroots and forgotten Londoners.

From May 2017, Sian became chair of the Housing Committee and deputy chair of the Police and Crime Committee, as well as sitting on the GLA Oversight Committee and the Budget and Performance Committee, scrutinising the work of the Mayor and the GLA across a wide range of issues. Each month, AMs also get the chance to ask written questions to the Mayor and to challenge him in person at Mayor’s Question Time.

Here are some highlights of what Sian got done in 2017:

January 2017

Sian questioned the Mayor at MQT about what he could do to help but his answers were disappointing and cautious, even though he had a small amount of headroom available in the council tax which he could raise and put into this very good preventive measure for keeping young people safe.

March 2017

Letting them get away with it, Sian’s new report on private renting showed that rules for letting agents are being routinely flouted, with rogue agents enjoying a very low risk of facing any penalties from councils in London.

The results of information requests to councils show that less than one third of complaints made about letting agents were acted upon. Sian called for a complete ban on letting fees to tenants and more help for councils to take action.

Better ways to do regeneration: Sian’s response to the Mayor’s draft estate regeneration guidance says it is worse than useless – it rips up the Mayor’s manifesto promise that ‘estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support’ and does nothing to ensure residents on estates can block demolition of their homes. Sian also worked with key campaigners like Demolition Watch, and local estate campaigns, to get as many responses as possible sent from London citizens to the Mayor’s consultation.

August 2017

The number of new council homes funded by GLA programmes since the Mayor took over in 2016 was revealed to be zero by Sian’s work on the Housing Committee, and she took the Mayor to task for his slow progress in MQT:

September 2017

The Mayor’s draft Housing Strategycame under fire from the Greens after it continued to include dodgy definitions of ‘affordable’ housing at up to 80 per cent of market rents and rolled back on any efforts to secure rent control powers for London.

The first major report published by the Housing Committee with Sian as chair looked athidden homelessness across London and estimated that 13 times as many people are hidden and homeless, on sofas, floors, public transport and other places out of sight, than are sleeping rough on the streets making this a huge hidden problem. Many of them are young, female or LGBT and are excluded from help from councils or face barriers to getting support.

See the report launch on BBC TV:

October 2017

At MQT Sian challenged the Mayor about the loopholes in his draft Housing Strategy, leaving in the dodgy definition at 80 per cent of market rents, which developers will use to avoid providing truly affordable housing.

November 2017

Sian joined Caroline to propose a motion asking for a 20 mph speed limit by default on all Transport for London roads that go where people walk, shop and live. Disgracefully, Labour abstained on the vote and the motion was voted down by the Conservatives.

Watch Sian’s speech supporting the motion, saying “We shouldn’t be making anyone stand next to 40mph roads in the middle of our city”

December 2017

Sian won an Assembly motion to make sure any police carrying tasers also have body-worn cameras – no tasers should be used on Londoners without accountability.

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Promoted and produced by Sian Berry as part of her campaign for selection to the posts of Green London Mayor and London Assembly candidate. This is not an official communication from the Green Party of England and Wales.